A Christmas Carol

Character: Belle
Created by: Charles Dickens
Directed by: Jimmy T. Murakami
Written by: Piet Kroon, Robert Llewellyn
Produced by: Iain Harvey
Other cast: Simon Callow, Nicolas Cage, Jane Horrocks, Michael Gambon, Rhys Ifans, Juliet Stevenson
Release date: December 7, 2001
Genre: Animation, Family
Running time: 77 minutes

This movie begins with a live-action sequence set in Boston in 1857, the site of a live reading by renowned novelist Dickens (Simon Callow). As he begins his "story of ghosts", a woman in the audience screams because she has seen a mouse, and Dickens points out that this is appropriate since his story begins with a mouse. At this point, the story turns into the animated version, and Dickens explains that the mouse, named Gabriel, carries a glimmer of hope amidst the glaring co-existence of rich and poor in the streets of London. Throughout the subsequent unfolding of the well-known story Gabriel acts as a miniature Greek chorus, providing younger members of the audience with a point of entry into the story and, in the case of the potentially frightening elements (the Ghosts of Past (Jane Horrocks), Present (Sir Michael Gambon), and Future), a place of refuge.

Taglines:

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Trivia:

This movie along with The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) are the only versions where the scene of the Cratchit family and Fred’s party swap places. In the original story and on other film versions, the Cratchit dinner scene takes place before Fred’s party.

Michael Gambon (Ghost of Christmas Present) also played Scrooge in the 2010 Doctor Who (2005) Christmas special Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (2010).

Character Quotes:

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